Cannes Update: New Films with Ashley Judd and Maggie Q on the Way
Films toplined by Ashley Judd and Maggie Q are the latest projects seeking distribution deals at the Cannes Film Market. According to ScreenDaily, Red Sea Media has begun talks with international buyers for Judd-starrer “Trafficked,” and the U.S. rights to Q-led “Slumber” have been obtained by Vertical Entertainment.
Directed by Will Wallace (“Red Wing”), “Trafficked” centers on three young women from the U.S., Nigeria, and India trying to escape a brothel. Elisabeth Röhm (“Jane the Virgin”), Anne Archer (“Ghosts of Girlfriends Past”), and Sean Patrick Flanery (“Dexter”) co-star in the film.
“This is a poignant film,” Red Sea founder Roman Kopelevich emphasized. “It’s important, with the world sex trade impacting girls from remote villages to the doorsteps of our neighborhoods. Anyone with a daughter or a sister should be concerned with this epidemic.”
Judd is an outspoken advocate for women’s rights around the world. She is also a survivor of sexual assault and severe online harassment. “The amount of gender violence that I experience is absolutely extraordinary,” Judd told “The Today Show” in 2015. The “Divergent” franchise actress serves as a Global Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations Population Fund, an organization striving for better healthcare for all women. You can next catch Judd in the “Twin Peaks” revival, which hits Showtime May 21.
Vertical Entertainment is planning a late-2017 theatrical release for “Slumber.” The supernatural thriller sees Q playing Alice, “a rationally minded sleep doctor, who is forced to abandon scientific reason and accept a family is being terrorized by a parasitic demon which paralyzes victims as they sleep,” ScreenDaily summarizes.
First-time feature director Jonathan Hopkins helmed “Slumber” and wrote the script with Richard Hobley.
Q currently plays Hannah Wells on ABC’s political dystopian thriller “Designated Survivor.” She portrayed the titular character on The CW’s “Nikita” from 2010 to 2013. Q’s next film is “The Brits Are Coming,” a jewel heist comedy that’s currently in post-production.
